6 Principles To Help You Turn your Startup into an Industry Leader

You just created your first startup. You know where you want the startup to go, but are not sure how to get it there, nor whether it’ll even reach that point. Overall, you’re optimistic, yet afraid to fail. About 3 years ago, at the age of 12, I was in this exact situation. I just began developing my first startup, DebateIsland.com, now a leading online debate platform which utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform the online debate experience on a global-scale and has been featured in Forbes and Inc. When I founded 2 more startups, at 13 and 14 years old, I faced different situations; At that point, I already had experience and principles for establishing and growing a startup, removing almost all the fear from the startup process, leaving only optimism. Now, these principles are part of a framework that I created called GO ACE!, consisting of 6 important ideas that I use in my current startups and plan on using in my future ventures. Thanks to this framework, growing startups into industry leaders becomes significantly easier. Now, I would like to help others make their ventures the best in their industry.

1) Goal – your startup always needs a big goal. Without a big goal, companies get lost (especially startups). If nobody at a venture knows what their venture is trying to achieve long-term, they won’t put nearly as much effort into getting there and won’t have passion about the startup. Setting a big vision for what your startup should eventually be is crucial to its success.

2) Optimism – always be an Optimist. Fundamentally, startups are risky to launch and require a lot of effort to become successful. But, as long as you believe that your venture can accomplish the goal at hand, you’ll achieve it. Optimism promotes effort, leading to the growth of your startup. Once someone loses optimism, they no longer put in the effort that a startup needs to succeed, immediately putting the venture on a path to failure. Also, optimism is highly contagious, therefore, a leader’s optimism results in the growth of team morale throughout the startup.

3) Agile – be ready to pivot. You may think that your venture offers a certain product, until you think of a brilliant idea which requires your startup to pivot. Don’t be afraid of pivoting, because your venture could be much more successful doing something different from its original purpose, or in addition to its original purpose. For example, DebateIsland wasn’t originally meant to have numerous Debating Formats, or Online Debate Clubs, or even Artificial Intelligence. Agility helped DebateIsland develop new ideas and implement them, resulting in large growth. Never be afraid not to have a plan for your startup, because your plans may be heavily changed. Additionally, never fear failure, because one failed venture or product may lead to another successful one.

4) Courage – never be intimidated by big competitors. When entering a market, you may find that your startup has some competitors who seem to be much larger than your venture, therefore, making it seem as if they can’t be replaced by your solution. That’s false; If your small startup provides a better product than their large company and you put effort into reaching your goals, you’ll force them out of business. Many established companies tend to reduce their work effort and productivity, becoming vulnerable to being replaced by a small startup. This was exactly the case with almost all of DebateIsland.com’s competitors. As DebateIsland worked towards replacing these competitors’ inferior solutions, these websites began to lose their domination of the online debate market, while DebateIsland’s userbase increased significantly. In this situation, it’s a small startup run by a teenage entrepreneur (DebateIsland) vs multi million dollar companies.

5) Effort – there are no shortcuts. With no effort, your startup probably won’t achieve exponential growth right after it launches, and it most likely won’t suddenly gain traction. Becoming successful doesn’t have any shortcuts. So, you must put a lot of effort into growing your venture.

Now, there’s one more item that’s part of GO ACE! — the exclamation point — which holds great importance. The exclamation point emphasizes the importance of putting your maximum effort into the venture you’re working on, because without full effort, your venture will most likely not be successful. By following this framework, your startup has a much higher chance of reaching success. I’m currently using GO ACE! in my latest exciting venture, where I joined Hatchr, a soon-to-launch organization, founded and operated by youth entrepreneurs, that helps college students and the youth learn about entrepreneurship through one-of-a-kind workshops that include networking sessions with other entrepreneurs and experienced professionals throughout various industries, as well as interactive educational experiences that teach attendees about a variety of topics related to STEM, Business, and Entrepreneurship through an innovative curriculum made for their age group. There, I serve as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Director of Strategy, primarily helping the organization grow its online platform, putting even more children on a path to become youth entrepreneurs.